There are processes in nature that resemble a true force but arise due to the minimization of the local energy. The most well-known case is the exchange interaction that leads to magnetic order in some materials. We discovered a new similar process occurring in connection with an electronic phase separation transition that leads to charge inhomogeneity in cuprate superconductors. The minimization of the local free energy, described here by the Cahn-Hilliard diffusion equation, drives the charges into regions of low and high densities. This motion leads to an effective potential with two-fold effect: creation of tiny isolated regions or micrograins, and two-body attraction, which promotes local or intra-grain superconducting pairing. Consequently, as in granular superconductors, the superconducting transition appears in two steps. First, with local intra-grain superconducting amplitudes and, at lower temperature, the superconducting phase or resistivity transition is attained by intergrain Josephson coupling. We show here that this approach reproduces the main features of the cuprates phase diagram, gives a clear interpretation to the pseudogap phase and yields the position dependent local density of states gap $Delta(vec r)$ measured by tunnelling experiments.
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